Division of Compliance AssistanceEPA Awards $1 Million in Brownfield Grants to Kentucky Communities

Press Release Date:

Monday, June 02, 2014

Contact Information:

Mary Jo Harrod800-926-8111

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 2, 2014) – The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Brownfield Redevelopment Program announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected two projects in Kentucky for brownfield community-wide assessment grants.

Brownfields are properties that are abandoned or underutilized due to contamination or the perception of contamination. They can include old factories, abandoned hospitals, old schools, former service stations and mine-scarred lands. Over the past eight years, with the help of the Kentucky Brownfield Redevelopment Program, Kentucky communities have received $8.3 million in EPA brownfield grants to help assess and remediate the estimated 8,000 brownfield properties in Kentucky. The Kentucky Brownfield Redevelopment Program offers assessment and grant review services, technical assistance and brownfield grant writing education to those communities and organizations that wish to revitalize properties with an environmental past.

“These brownfield community-wide assessment grants will allow the communities to progress toward their goal of redeveloping contaminated properties and putting them back into productive reuse. This will stimulate economic development, protect the environment and improve the lives of those people living in these communities,” said DEP Commissioner Bruce Scott.

Grants awarded to Kentucky communities include:

●City of Frankfort––$400,000 Community-Wide Assessment Grant

The grant will allow the City of Frankfort to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments on brownfield properties in the Holmes Street Corridor, areas along the Kentucky River and the Second Street Corridor. This funding will cover assessments for both hazardous waste and petroleum-impacted properties.

●Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD) and the cities of Newport and Covington––$600,000

This coalition grant will provide funding to the Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD), along with the cities of Newport and Covington, to assess properties along the Licking River Greenway. Many of the potential sites were identified in a previous assessment grant awarded to the area development district. This funding will allow NKADD to continue to identify and assess properties that have redevelopment potential.